This invention pertains to receptacles for refolding and stacking segmented sheet material. It pertains particularly to receptacles of the class known as "printout baskets" commonly employed for receiving, folding and stacking printout paper as it is delivered by a computer driven printer. It is described herein specifically with respect to this application, although no limitation thereby is intended.
The receptacles or printout baskets commonly used for the reception, folding and storage of computer printout paper in large quantities conventionally comprise simple interwoven wire baskets adapted to catch the printout paper as it is discharged in large volume and at a high rate of speed from the associated computer. The baskets have for their purported function, receiving the leading end of the paper as it is discharged from the computer and falls gravitationally into the basket, guiding it into reverse folds, and stacking it in flat-folded condition until the operation of the computer has been completed.
The conventional catch baskets are relatively expensive. Also, they are inefficient in operation in that they do not guide the printout paper accurately, with the result that it snags and is caught in unfolded condition. This generates a great volume of an unfolded continuous length of paper which rapidly fills the basket and overflows onto the floor.
As a result, it is common practice to station an operator adjacent the discharge side of the computer for the purpose of manually guiding the printout paper into its folded condition, and stacking it in the basket. This obviously is wasteful of the operator's time and introduces an unnecessary cost factor into the operation of the computer.
It accordingly is the general object of the present invention to provide a refolding and stacking receptacle for segmented sheet material, such as computer printout paper, which receives, guides, refolds and neatly stacks the sheet material after it has been run through a processing device, in particular through a computer-driven printer.
Among the further objects of the invention are the provision of a refolding and stacking receptacle for computer printout paper and other segmented sheet material which:
(1) accommodates papers having a wide variety of commercial uses,
(2) guides the paper positively and forces it to fold in the right direction,
(3) prevents catching of the moving paper web on interior surfaces with resultant paper hangups,
(4) allows for misalignment of the receptacle relative to the associated computer or other printing device, in both directions,
(5) permits easy extraction of the finished stack of folded material,
(6) is adaptable for use with sheet material of different widths without any adjustment,
(7) is characterized by a side extraction feature permitting the associated printing device to be backed against a wall,
(8) has no moving parts,
(9) is characterized by long life in an office environment,
(10) generates a minimum amount of static electricity,
(11) without adjustment, can handle both single and multi-part papers,
(12) may be simply and inexpensively fabricated and assembled, from two identical parts of molded plastic or other structural material.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by the provision of a refolding and stacking receptacle for reversely-foldable, segmented sheets of material which comprises broadly a substantially horizontal support for supporting a stack of the material in flat, refolded condition.
A substantially vertical guideway is positioned centrally of the support for receiving a leading end of a moving web of the sheet material fed gravitationally to the receptacle in an unfolded condition. Stop means associated with the guideway is positioned for arresting the motion of the sheet material. The depth of the guideway is less than the length of a single sheet material segment by an increment predetermined to make the material fold zig-zag fashion on the support surface. In this manner, as the web is fed continuously to the receptacle, it is guided and reversely folded continuously to build up a stack of the material in flat, refolded condition. Upon termination of the operation the stack may be easily removed for further processing.